To deny that Jesus is the Christ is related to denying the anointing. However, due to the problem of language, we may not realize that Christ is related to the anointing. The Greek word for Christ is Christos, which means the anointed one, and the Greek word for anointing is chrisma. Both words are derived from the same root. Now we must go on to see that Christ as the anointed One becomes the anointing. Because He is the anointed One, He has an abundance of ointment with which to anoint us. Eventually, the anointed One becomes the anointing One. In fact, He even becomes the anointing. To deny that Jesus is the Christ is to deny that Jesus is the anointed One. Moreover, to deny the anointed One means to deny the anointing. Therefore, to deny the Christos is to deny the chrisma. Whenever someone denies that Jesus is the Christos, that one denies that Jesus is the anointed One. This is equal to denying the anointing, for after the anointed One enters into us, He becomes the anointing.
In 2 Corinthians 1:21 Paul says, “But He who firmly attaches us with you unto Christ and has anointed us is God.” Because we have been attached by God to Christ, the anointed One, we are spontaneously anointed with Him by God. Christ has been anointed with the divine ointment, and the ointment that is upon Him now flows to us. This is pictured in Psalm 133, which says that the anointing oil flows from the head of Aaron to his beard and even to the skirts of his priestly robe. This indicates that Christ has an abundance of the anointing oil. God has poured the ointment upon Him. Through that anointing Christ has received the ointment, and eventually He, the anointed One, became the anointing One. When He entered into us as the anointed One, He became the anointing One in us. Actually, the anointing that dwells in us is the anointed One becoming the anointing One and also the anointing. To reject this anointed One is to reject the anointing. Whenever someone denies that Jesus is the anointed One and thereby denies that He is the anointing One, this person also denies the anointing. Now we need to see that to deny the anointing is to be anti-anointing, the accurate meaning of the title antichrist. Antichrist, therefore, means anti the anointing.
According to verse 22, the antichrist is the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ. To deny that Jesus is the Christ is to deny that He is the anointing One. This is also to deny the anointing and thereby to be anti-anointing. What is the antichrist? The antichrist is someone who is anti-anointing. Furthermore, according to verse 22, to be an antichrist, to be anti-anointing, is to deny the Father and the Son. We may not be anti the anointing in this way, yet we have to admit that often we disobey this inner anointing.
God’s intention is to work Himself into us as our life and our everything to make us His counterpart for the expression of Himself. In order to accomplish this, it was necessary for God to pass through the process of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. When He entered into resurrection, He became the compound, all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit. This Spirit is actually Christos, the anointed One, becoming the life-giving One. When we believed in the Lord Jesus, we received Him into us. The One we received is the anointed One, who through death and resurrection has become the anointing One. Furthermore, this anointing One is the all-inclusive indwelling Spirit. As soon as we believed in Him, He as the Spirit entered our spirit. Now He is within our spirit to anoint us, to “paint” us, with the element of the Triune God. The more this “painting” goes on, the more the element of the Triune God is transfused into our being. This is the anointing, which is the reality of the entire New Testament.